The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have battled back from their early-season upset loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies to improve to 4-1 and remain in the AP Top 25, where they check in at No. 11 this week.
Notre Dame had a bye week following their September 28 win over the Louisville Cardinals. They benefitted from the chaos that many teams ahead of them in the poll suffered and jumped up three spots during their vacant week.
Unfortunately for the Irish, it wasn’t all good news during the bye week.
During Monday’s media availability, head coach Marcus Freeman announced that redshirt freshman pass rusher Boubacar Traore would be sidelined for the rest of the season due to a knee injury he suffered against Louisville.
Traore had three sacks for Notre Dame this season from the Viper position, two of which came in the team’s September 14 win over the Miami Ohio Redhawks. Traore’s uptick in playing time came from the season-ending injury suffered by Jordan Botelho earlier this season.
The Fighting Irish will now turn to Junior Tuihalamaka, a junior defensive lineman from California, to replace Botelho and Traore at the Viper position. Tuihalamaka has just one half-sack in his college career, which he recorded in the same Louisville win that saw Traore suffer the season-ending injury.
[ESPN]
